If you liked the movie, be sure to read the book it is based on. Fortunately the film is fairly faithful to the book, even in its ending, but there is a lot of fascinating Kalahari natural history information contained in the book.
shareI read the novel after my dad recommended it to me when I was 10. I was absolutely fascinated by the story and it started a lifelong passion for reading. I wasn't aware a movie was ever made, but looking at the cast listing (Stanley Baker, Nigel Davenport, Susannah York, etc.) and reading how it remained true to the story, I would love to see it. Any idea if it was ever put on tape or DVD? A few more great movies out of the Dark Continent: The Naked Prey (w/Cornel Wilde), Zulu (Stanley Baker, Michael Caine), King Solomon's Mines (the 1950 version with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr), and of course The Flight of the Phoenix (Jimmy Stewart, Richard Attenborough).
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it's been awhile since i read the book - but i recall being surprised at many elements that were different thru out - especially the african-american character - who was left out of the movie altogether
of course - there's the upfront difference - the titles - the book is SANDS OF KALAHARI - the movie adds THE in front of the desert's name
SPOILER WARNING!
I read the book but the ending is different in the movie. In the movie I feel the final scene when Whitman is wounded and helpless he is doomed. In the book he kills the ape and then he knows the others may kill him and he grabs a club and runs after the others and they flee down the hill. He has won. He then laughs victoriously.
The film isn't COMPLETELY faithful to the book is it? The book has a black character named Jefferson Smith and he seems to have been replaced by a white doctor played by Theodore Bikel. Also, I don't think the pilot tried to rape Grace in the book. Bain tried to get fresh once and it didn't work out. In the book, the characters were frequently naked. I'm sure that is downplayed significantly in the movie. In fact, Smith was naked for a very long time - like weeks!! Maybe that's why they put Bikel in his place. That wasn't going to happen with him.
shareI read the book but the ending is different in the movie. In the movie I feel the final scene when Whitman is wounded and helpless he is doomed. In the book he kills the ape and then he knows the others may kill him and he grabs a club and runs after the others and they flee down the hill. He has won. He then laughs victoriously.
Having *not* read the book, but after viewing the film today (last time I had seen it was several years ago on TV as a little girl), I was wondering if there was more discussion in the book about the moral 'dilemmas'/choices, that (other than what we see) were briefly discussed by the characters in the film.
Love this movie, BTW ~
"Much communication in a motion, without conversation or a notion"
As a kid I saw bits of this film and it always interested me. Finally today I saw a DVD so I got the whole thing finally. I am always into survival type films and this one really seemed to get how humans might act in these types of scenarios. As advanced as we may seem at times we still are brutal and primitive in some many other ways and when the trappings of civilization fall away watch out!
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